


Of Friends, First Loves, and Valentines

by rakugaki (tieria)



Category: Rune Factory 4
Genre: Multi, Rune Factory Valentine's Week 2015
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tieria/pseuds/rakugaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles and short fics for Rune Factory Valentine's Week 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: Frey doesn’t mean to be rude, she really doesn’t. She just. Isn’t exactly great with this whole tact and timing thing.  
> Prompt: First Meeting  
> Pair: Frey/Vishnal, though the actual first meeting is more gen/friendship  
> Notes: So… This is based on something I (accidentally) did when I started my Frey playthrough.

“Mom? How did you and Daddy meet?”

Frey froze, turning several shades of red in no less than three seconds. “Why… Why don’t you ask your dad?”

In the kitchen, Frey could hear Vishnal’s soft laughter and the smell of something sweet starting to burn- both staples of their life for years. As Luna raced into the kitchen to find her father, Frey, her face still burning apple red, whispered behind her, “I’m sorry…”

:::

Frey looked at the boulder-covered field in dismay. “You mean… I have to clean all this up?”

Vishnal nodded enthusiastically. “You are the Princess, after all.”

Sighing, Frey walked into the center of the field, spinning slowly as she tried to find a patch of ground that would be easy to clear. _‘No way can I clear all those rocks and tree stumps yet…’_

Frey paused for a moment, staring down at the weeds she had trampled beneath her feet. ‘ _Oh, duh, I can just pick up all the weeds. Problem solved.’_

Stretching lightly and springing on the balls of her feet, Frey headed over to the far corner of the field, convincing herself that fieldwork couldn’t possibly be as bad as she thought.

‘ _It’s all about attitude!’_ she thought, crouching down to start pulling the first weed, _‘All I have to do is be positive and this’ll be over in no time.’_

Of course, what Frey hadn’t accounted for was the fact that you can’t simply _pick_ _weeds up off the ground_. Some weeds came up with one pull, and some weeds had Frey pulling on them so hard that she almost toppled backwards when they finally, finally came up from the ground along with more clumps of dirt than Frey would ever have thought a plant could hold in its tangled roots.

It was always much easier to have a positive attitude when you weren’t covered in dirt and sweat.

“Stupid… _Weeds_ ,” Frey said between heavy breaths, her arms full of weeds from around the field as she made her way towards the last one.

The last weed, the one Vishnal just happened to be standing on. Vishnal, who had just stood there as she weeded the entire field, who hadn’t even offered to help carry them around-

“Hold these,” Frey muttered under her breath as she dumped them into a shocked Vishnal’s arms.

As she knelt down to pick the last weed from the earth, she heard Vishnal’s unusually harsh reply-

“Princess! Trash belongs in the trash!”

Frey gave the weed a sharp twist and a tug, to no avail- it was still firmly stuck in the ground next to Vishnal’s shoe. “Go ahead then, Vishnal, I’m sure you of all people would know where it is.”

For a moment, there was silence, and Frey gave another pull, this time much harder. To her delight, the weed came up from the ground easily this time, leaving a small hole in the ground where its roots had dragged the soil up with it. Running her fingers through the roots, Frey freed the clumps of earth and patted them back into the hole gently before rising to her feet with a smile.

As she reached to take the weeds back from Vishnal’s arms, she froze, suddenly registering the butler’s almost trembling lower lip and forlorn expression.

Hands still frozen in midair, halfway towards their target, Frey played the last few minutes over in her mind, trying to figure out what exactly could have happened.

  _‘I’m a complete idiot.’_

“I…” Vishnal began quietly, as Frey’s smile dropped off her face, replaced by subtle panic, “I’m sorry that your first impression of me was that bad, Princess. I’m still in training, and from here on out I promise that I’ll try my best to-“

Frey’s hands, formerly frozen in place, began to wave wildly as she tried to stop Vishnal who looked like he would attempt to shrink into one of the weeds in his arms at any moment. “No, nonononono, that’s not what I meant, Vishnal, I promise that’s _not what I meant_ -“

“I’ll try my best to improve like Volkanon and Clorica-“

Internally, Frey smacked herself in the face. “No, Vishnal, really, that’s not what I meant! I thought, since you’re a butler here you would know where the trash is? So… You could… Show me?”

The change in Vishnal’s expression was subtle but abrupt. “Oh. Ohhhh, Princess, I’d be glad to show you. Please, follow me!”

And with that, Vishnal quickly turned and walked away, his posture, at the very least, much more open and upright.

After a moment Frey moved to follow him, a lone weed in her hand and a late, “ _I’m sorry_ ,” unspoken on her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: In which it is summer in Selphia and if Arthur doesn't admit to the nature of his distraction, it'll go away eventually. Probably.   
> Prompt: Daydreams  
> Pair: Arthur x Xiao Pai  
> Notes: This is part one of two! Part two will be posted for tomorrow's theme(s).

Summer had settled in on the (relatively) peaceful village of Selphia, and the changing of the seasons couldn’t have made itself more apparent- from the mass of new seeds planted in the castle fields to the unveiling of new swimsuits to the incessant, stifling waves of heat, summer had arrived.

And with it came a new eye, a fresh perspective, and perhaps, Arthur thought as he stared rather listlessly out at the open doors of his office, that was his mistake.

“Um… Arthur?”

With a small start, Arthur shook himself back to reality, one in which Lest was watching him with mild concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. I… Saw something outside the doors, is all. You were saying?”

Still obviously concerned, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, Lest started the conversation back up, more a monologue about something or other than anything else. Arthur tried to concentrate, he _did_ , but his laser-focused, single-minded type of concentration came to him so easily that he simply didn’t know how to reclaim it once it had been lost.

And lost, it had been, since summer had begun-

(Or perhaps… But Arthur would let that train of thought go no further, not while he still had that much control.)

Lost it had been since summer had begun, and Arthur forced his attention back to Lest, speaking eagerly on the new crops he had planted and how he was sure he could ship double what he had last year-

And Arthur did not, under any circumstances, let his gaze wander back to the girl talking to her mother just outside his door.

(His thoughts, however, were another matter entirely.)

:::

The long days of summer seemed never to end under normal conditions, and for Arthur, permanently stuck in a half-dreaming haze, they seemed to drag on into eternity. His work was either finished too early or too late, leaving him alternately wandering around the town with nothing of significance to do or working so late into the night that he falls asleep at his desk-

And on top of that, the problem of his incessant daydreaming had yet to disappear. Selphia was a small town, all things considered, and perhaps fortunately, perhaps not, Arthur ran into the source of his distraction no matter if he tried to avoid her or seek her out.

“Arthur!” Xiao Pai called out, waving her hands as she headed towards him from across the street.

“Oh, Xiao Pai,” Arthur said, “Hello. Is there something I can help you with?”

Nodding, Xiao Pai managed to avoid tripping on a raised stone in the road. Seeing Arthur’s almost puzzled expression, Xiao Pai laughed quietly. “I always trip on that brick, yes? So I memorized where it is after I dropped a present for my mother last week.”

Arthur couldn’t help but return the smile in kind, even if it wasn’t meant for him, per say. “That’s good. Just be careful, all right?”

“Of course!”

Arthur enjoyed the silence for a moment before breaking it. “So, was there something you were going to ask me?”

“Oh, yes! Tomorrow, can I see the airship schedule?”

“Of course. If you’d like to see it now, this season’s copy is on my desk. Feel free to browse through it. Though, may I ask why?”

Xiao Pai smiled again, her mouth wide and her eyes nearly shut, and for just a moment, Arthur felt as if he could understand how authors and poets could write tens upon hundreds of words about a single person’s features. “For my birthday, my mother and I want to return to my childhood home for a few days. Since there are gifts you can only get there, you know.”

“Yes, I can imagine,” Arthur replied. “Would you like me to help you arrange one? It’s already the eighteenth, and if you plan on leaving by your birthday…”

Xiao Pai nodded and clapped her hands together once in happiness. “Ah, thank you!”

As they walked back towards his office together, Arthur could only wonder if the distance would lessen his distraction or multiply it by thousands.

:::

Arthur had never before realized how horribly mundane his daydreams had been until they changed, until they had a goal, a purpose, an unattainable dream not-so-subtly buried in them.

He had never been to Xiao Pai’s home country personally, but in his mind, he could see the streets as clearly as the ones he walked every day, could feel the warmth of Xiao Pai’s hand in his as she led him down winding street after street, pointing out houses and parks and restaurants all with that bright, wonderful smile on her face, could smell the scent of the Chinese food they ate as clearly as the pickled turnips that sat in front of him-

 “Arthur?”

“Uh. Huh?” Arthur replied elegantly, and Lest, if he hadn’t been worried any of the times before, certainly was now.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Are the turnips bad? I left them in my fridge so I thought they were okay, but you can totally tell me if they’re bad…”

Arthur, confused for a half second, glanced down at his plate. Sure enough, he had only taken a bite out of his pickled turnips, too distracted by the fictional future playing out in his head to be concerned with what was right in front of him. _‘If Porcoline ever hears of this, never mind leaving my meals at the door, he’ll take it into his hands to start watching me eat…’_

“No, they’re delicious, as usual. Thank you, Lest. I’m just a bit… Preoccupied, is all,” Arthur said, taking another bite. None of it was a lie, really- Porcoline may be the best cook in Selphia, but Lest’s pickled turnips were a very close second, and being preoccupied was certainly the truth-

It just didn’t cut to the heart of the issue, was all.

Lest sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and watching Arthur carefully, as if he was choosing how to frame his next words. Arthur glanced around the restaurant- it was a holiday, and neither Dylas nor Porcoline was in sight, thankfully. Somehow, Arthur couldn’t shake the feeling that Lest wasn’t about to be subtle with what he was about to say.

“You’re in love with someone, aren’t you?”

Arthur took a long breath before sighing. “I would ask if it was obvious, but I can’t help but feel it must have been.”

Lest shrugged. “I think everyone else in town just think you’ve worked yourself too hard. That’s what I thought too, at first.”

“Then how did you-“

“Remember when we were talking about shipping flowers? You asked me about crystal flowers. Those are Xiao Pai’s favorites. You can have some, by the way. I didn’t tell Xiao Pai I planted them, so they’d be a good surprise gift,” Lest said, and Arthur felt his face start to go red.

“No, that’s really fine, I really don’t need-“

Lest just laughed. “Come on, you have to at least try, right?”

Arthur sighed, resigned to his fate. Once Lest got an idea into his head, it was too late to try and change his mind. “All right, I’ll give her a flower. But don’t expect any more.”


End file.
